


tempered, temperate

by seventhsky



Category: Fire Emblem Heroes
Genre: F/F, Fix-It
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-18
Updated: 2018-12-18
Packaged: 2019-09-22 02:43:10
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,405
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17051549
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/seventhsky/pseuds/seventhsky
Summary: In which kisses solve everything.





	tempered, temperate

**Author's Note:**

  * For [EvilMuffins](https://archiveofourown.org/users/EvilMuffins/gifts).



_She couldn’t lose. Mustn’t lose._

_Yet all the strength she could bring to bear, all her determination and desperation, even the blessing of Múspell, all came to nothing, and her defeat was absolute._

_She held her head high, ready to face her death without fear. The princess of ice would take her head; that would, at least, be fitting._

_But the flames returned too fast, burning away her breath, choking her. Her vision blurred, and she fell to her knees —_

_(the princess dropping her lance, reaching out to her)_

— _tried to speak, but her words vanished into smoke, and she heard only roaring furnaces —_

_(touching her face with her cool fingers, meeting her lips with her own)_

— _and then a chilling breath filled her, dousing, quenching, extinguishing —_

 

Laegjarn woke, and tasted ash.

Wherever she was, it was featurelessly dark, but a warm breeze played across her face. She lay still, trying to remember.

The bedclothes around her were soft and clean. There was a scent in the air of flowers, and under that a sharp whiff of something metal and astringent.

This wasn't Múspell, she was sure, nor Nifl. Then, perhaps the Askrans had taken her?

Voices drifted into her awareness from somewhere near, just muffled enough that she couldn't make out their words. She turned her head towards them, and a wave of dizziness rushed over her.

A door creaked open, and the voices became louder and clearer.

"—promised to watch over her sister for her, so she'd finally get some sleep." A girl's voice, cheerful. Familiar, but she couldn't place it. Footsteps: two, three, four paces towards her.

A deeper voice muttered, "She wouldn't budge when I said the same."

Still no light? A fragment of memory came to mind, of an all-obscuring smoke. Perhaps...

 

One of the voices spoke again, breaking into her thoughts.

"A younger sister's sympathy? Or she grew less stubborn as she tired.”

That one she recognised.

“Princess Fjorm.” Laegjarn winced; her voice came out harsh and croaky, and even as quietly as she’d spoken, the sound of it rattled her head like thunder.

“Ah, you’re awake.” Fjorm’s voice was soft. “I do hope we didn’t disturb your rest. Here, water.”

No lights. Then, she must admit it.

“I... I see nothing.”

Fjorm’s voice was steady. “I feared as much. Do you remember?” She slid a cool hand behind Laegjarn’s head, lifting her slightly, and pressed the rim of a drinking-glass to her lips. Laegjarn sipped carefully. The water was cold and soothing. “You said that the flames took your eyes. You’d invoked the Rite of Flames. You spoke of being consumed, and... I knew I couldn’t let that happen. I acted in haste, but it seems I wasn’t fast enough.”

It was easier to speak now. “What did you do?” Laegjarn asked.

Fjorm was quiet for a moment. “I remembered... I had read of another form of exchange. Breath for breath, and one promise for another. So I gave you my breath.”

“She kissed you. It was really dramatic!” The other girl’s voice. Loud.

“Sharena!” The deeper voice. Trying to whisper.

“That’s enough, you two,” Fjorm said, with a laugh in her voice. “Could you please bring Princess Laevatein here? I think she would resent being left to sleep at this point.”

As the others’ footsteps receded, Fjorm continued, “Your sister is well. She returned with us to Askr in order to watch over you, with every intent to bring you home for your coronation.”

“Then...”

Fjorm’s voice was steely. “Yes. Surtr is dead. And you are alive. This is as it should be.”

 

 

“Princess Laegjarn. We have a big problem, and you’re the only one who can help!” Sharena’s voice filled the garden courtyard where Laegjarn lay dozing beneath a sweet-scented blossom tree. Her strength had begun to return as the days passed, but she’d found that she still needed to rest a great deal.

“Eh? Slow down. What’s going on?” Laegjarn mumbled, pushing herself up into a sitting position.

Sharena helped her to her feet and hooked an arm around her elbow. “It’s about Fjorm! You know the spell she used to save you, the kiss of life one? Well, Alfonse has been trying to find out more about it, even though she won’t tell him anything—“

“I know,” Laegjarn said. “I’ve been there while he was asking questions.”

“Interrogating, more like.” Sharena continued as she lead Laegjarn out of the garden. “Anyway, he found a reference to something similar in some old books and he confronted her about it because he was worried about what it said and she finally came clean about it and, um. It’s not good. Oh, here, we have to go up some stairs now. First one in two paces.”

They climbed the stairs in silence and concentration until Laegjarn asked, “Why is it not good?”

Sharena took a deep breath. “It only worked because she’s done the same kind of rite as you did. Frost, not flame, of course, and we knew that part, but it’s also the same kind because it’s going to kill her and she used that power to trade part of her life for you!” Sharena’s pace quickened as she spoke, until Laegjarn stumbled trying to keep up. “Sorry, I’m pulling you around again. Anyway, we’re here.”

 

She opened a door and led Laegjarn to a seat beside Fjorm, who sat silently. The room smelled of dust and old books, and the sound of footsteps suggested that Alfonse was pacing back and forth close by. There was a palpable sense of tension in the air.

Fjorm placed one cool hand over Laegjarn’s own. “I’m sorry to trouble you all with this,” she said.

Alfonse sighed. “It wasn’t _troubling us_ until you insisted on keeping it secret,” he said.

Fjorm started, “I had to—“

Sharena’s voice cut in. “Hey, let’s not get into this again. It’ll be fine. We can fix this. Princess Laegjarn’s here now.”

“I don’t understand,” Laegjarn said. “What do you think I can do?”

Alfonse said, “It’s possible that the same exchange can work reciprocally, allowing you both to cancel out the fatal consequences of your Rite.”

“What he means is,” said Sharena, "She fixed it for you before by kissing you, right? So if _you_ kiss _her_ this time, and then maybe a bunch more times to be sure—"

Fjorm groaned and pressed her face into Laegjarn’s shoulder. "It can't be that simple," she said, slightly muffled.

"It could be!"

Laegjarn leaned her head down to rest against Fjorm’s. In a low voice she said, "I think her suggestion has merit. Would you like me to try?"

"Not while she's watching!"

 

  
“They’ve actually left, right?” Laegjarn whispered. “Nobody’s hiding behind a curtain to watch us?”

“It’s just us,” Fjorm said. “Are you feeling shy?”

“This is really quite... intimate. I’m not experienced in anything like this.”

“It’s fine.” Fjorm’s voice dropped to a breathy whisper. “Be as intimate as you like.”

Laegjarn cupped Fjorm’s cheek with one hand. “As I understand, at this point it would be customary to gaze lovingly into your eyes. I think I will improvise.” She ran her fingers down the side of Fjorm’s face, lightly over her cheek, and placed her thumb against her lips.

Fjorm smiled under Laegjarn’s hand, and she touched her tongue to the pad of Laegjarn’s thumb.

Surprised, Laegjarn laughed. “Oh, that tickles.”

“Sorry,” said Fjorm.

“No, do it again.”

Fjorm took Laegjarn’s thumb into her mouth, sucking, then released it, and placed a kiss on the palm of her hand. She put a hand behind Laegjarn’s head, and gently pulled her closer, until her forehead pressed against Laegjarn’s.

“Just so you know, I‘m doing the loving gaze now,” Fjorm said. “Um, your eyes are very pretty.”

“Not too scarred, now?”

“Never.”

Laegjarn closed the last distance between them and pressed her lips to Fjorm’s.

She kissed, parting her lips and letting her tongue between them, and she thought of ice melting, first as in fire, and then as snow dissipating in a warm beam of sun.

 

Fjorm pulled away after a few breaths, panting. “I feel... warm,” she said. “More than in a long time.”

“Do you think it worked?” Laegjarn asked.

“I hope so. But I’d like to keep trying, if you don’t mind.”

So Laegjarn kissed her again.

And then again, and then a few more times to be sure.

**Author's Note:**

> Well, this was a good reason to learn to write. I'd like to do more for these two as I get more practice, as I couldn't shake this idea, and I'd like to take it further.


End file.
